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How many 'listen outside of the box' design?

Whether I owned electrostats or open baffle designs the majority of my audio life I've owned boxless speakers. My choices were made in part due to a logic of removing a 'box' from the equation of having to interact with a room. The more I thought about it it seemed a very logical choice. Why enter a speaker into a box and then have to deal with the resonation of the speaker interacting with the box and the room? I'm not saying successful box designs haven't been built, what I'm suggesting is box designs seem a more complicated way to achieve true room integration. I've discovered, dollar for dollar, I've exceeded most box designs. How many think as I do, or have experienced similar results based upon experimentation?
128x128coltrane1
audiokinesis
2,713 posts
 
While not "boxless" in the literal sense of the word, omni-directional and poly-directional designs often have a presentation reminiscent of an open-baffle or planar speaker. I believe that much of what a good open-baffle or planar speaker does well results from the relatively late-arriving backwave energy, and essentially the same effect can be generated by other techniques, some of which offer advantages in efficiency, bass extension, or dynamic headroom.
spenceroo
183 posts
 
All recorded music is recorded through a box speaker, so what you are listening to is "box speaker music" coming out of your non-box speakers. Get it? Even that live music concert that you so desperately want to reproduce at home is coming at you through box speakers (the PA system) when you're sitting in the audience. My speakers don't sound boxy at all (SP Tech Timepiece 3.0) They sound like real music and disappear in my room. It all comes down to what sounds best to you.
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,973 posts
 
You still have frames stators and diaphragms that resonate no free lunch for any loudspeaker. Also panels can rock back and forth as diaphragm moves. I do not feel these designs are as free from colorations as one thinks. Still estats planars ribbons can be wonderful sounding loudspeakers. Like all not perfect but for some maybe the best match for there room system or listening tastes. I spent many years with estats.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
I have nothing against boxes or enclosures if done well, though I have always tended to lean away from them.

The OHM Walsh's in my setup are somewhat unique in how the downward firing driver is mounted in relation to the box, which comes into play mainly for the low end, which is where enclosures generally add value, so I like that particular approach to leveraging an enclosure. mbl and German Physiks use different drivers but a similar configuration regarding the enclosure.
dracule1
1,085 posts
 
I used to be a planar guy (owned Maggies and Apogees in the past), but box designs have come a long way. I'm now into box designs because I can get the bass dynamics and loudness levels I missed with the planar speakers, while still retaining the benefits of planars.
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